Topics in this Week's News Include:
1. NMFA Salutes Our Veterans-and Their Families!
2. Commissary Scholarship Applications Now Available for Military Children
3. How Well are DoD Schools Serving Your Children?
4. Army Works to Improve Casualty Officer Training
5. Pentagon Channel Shed Light on PTSD
6. More Veterans Day Discounts Available
7. Have You Used Military OneSource? Tell Us How You Like It!
Here's the News!!
1. NMFA Salutes Our Veterans-and Their Families!
As our Nation at war approaches another Veterans Day this weekend, the
National Military Family Association joins a grateful nation in
thanking all our veterans, their families, and survivors for their
service and sacrifice. To help us express our thanks, we share the
words of a school girl from Allenhurst, Georgia. Her essay on why she
appreciates military families appears in the 2004 book A Tribute to Military Families: Letters of Thanks from Our Nation's Children:
I
appreciate all the men and women who [are] and already have risked
their lives for us. I also thank them for their bravery. If you ask me
we owe everything to them for all they've done to keep us free and
safe. I thank them very much for all they've done for us.
NMFA thanks our veterans and their families. We are proud to serve you!
2. Commissary Scholarship Applications Now Available for Military Children:
The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) announced last week that the
application process for its Scholarships for Military Children program
has now begun for 2007. Applications for the $1,500 scholarships are
available at 264 commissaries worldwide, or can be downloaded through
links at http://www.commissaries.com/, http://www.militaryscholar.org/, or http://www.dodea.edu/.
Almost 3,000 scholarships totaling approximately $4 million have been
awarded since the first awards were given in 2001. Most of the funds
are donated by manufacturers, brokers and suppliers selling groceries
in commissaries, and every dollar donated to the program by industry or
the general public goes to fund the scholarships. The program is
administered by the Fisher House Foundation. A significant number of
scholarships, about 10 percent every year, go to high school students
at DoD schools overseas.
The program is open to unmarried children under the age of 21 (23 if
enrolled in school) of military active-duty, Reserve, Guard and retired
personnel. Eligibility will be determined using the Defense Enrollment
Eligibility Reporting System database. Applicants should ensure that
they, as well as their sponsor, are enrolled in the DEERS database and
have a current ID card. The applicant must be planning to attend, or
already attending, an accredited college, or university full-time in
the fall term of 2007, or enrolled in a program of studies designed to
transfer directly into a four-year program. Applications for 2007,
which includes an essay on "how and why" the applicant would change an
historical event, must be turned in at a commissary by close of
business on February 21, 2007. At least one $1,500 scholarship will be
awarded at every commissary location with qualified applicants.
In
addition to its corporate donor support, the scholarship program has
also made inroads to increasing support from the "nonmilitary"
community. For example, California high school students sponsoring golf
tournaments in 2006 raised thousands of dollars to donate to the
program, and already for 2007, a private foundation has made a
substantial donation. Donations can be made through the link at http://www.militaryscholar.org/, the official program website. (Source: http://www.commissaries.com/news/news_2006/DeCA_49-06.cfm)
3. How Well Are DoD Schools Serving Your Children?
On November 1, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)
launched its Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS). The survey, which runs
through February 28, 2007, provides valuable feedback to DoDEA from its
most important customers-students, parents, and teachers-about the
quality of education it provides and areas needing improvement. It is
conducted every other year by DoDEA.
Separate surveys will be given to teachers, parents, students in
grades 4-5, students in grades 6-8, and students in grades 9-12. The
surveys were developed through a review process of various groups,
including the DoDDS and DDESS teachers' unions, DoDEA Teachers of the
Year, superintendents, principals, students, and Education Directorate
staff members at the DoDEA headquarters. Some questions were adapted
from the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward
Schools with additional DoDEA-specific questions. Officials estimate it
will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the survey which will be
available online at http://www.dodea.edu/.
From the DoDEA home page, click on the CSS link. Where internet access
is a concern for parents, an electronic version of the surveys will be
available for printing.
Information derived from the surveys will be used to improve
planning efforts at all levels throughout DoDEA. Schools, districts,
and areas will use the survey results to gain insight into the
satisfaction levels of sponsors and students, which is one of many
measures used for future planning of programs and services offered to
DoDEA's students. The survey results will also be used to monitor the
DoDEA Community Strategic Plan (CSP), which contains the strategic
direction for DoDEA for the years 2006-2011.
For more information on the CSS, call (703) 588-3260 or visit the DoDEA website at http://www.dodea.edu/. (Source: http://www.dodea.edu/communications/news/releases/101906.htm)
4. Army Works to Improve Casualty Officer Training:
In response to concerns leveled by surviving families regarding the
consistency and quality of Army casualty assistance, as well as
recommendations from the Army's Inspector General, the Army fielded its
first standardized, web-based, mandatory training curricula for
casualty assistance and notification officers on November 1.
Previously, each installation Casualty Assistance Center (CAC)
developed and presented its own certification training classes for
casualty assistance officers (CAOs) and casualty notification officers
(CNOs) within its geographic area of responsibility prior to assigning
Soldiers to an actual notification or assistance mission. The new
online courses now constitute the basic training curricula for all CACs
worldwide. The web-based format provides Soldiers in remote locations
with 24/7 access to the same level and quality of training that was
normally only available at key installations.
Each installation CAC may supplement these standard training
curricula with additional discussions, role-playing exercises, and
information on resources and procedures applicable to the local
geographic area. The Army's Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations
Center (CMAOC) has formed mobile training teams with casualty and
mortuary affairs expertise who will deploy to locations across the Army
in the coming months assisting installation CACs in incorporating the
web-based products into local training protocols. Additionally, the
CMAOC will continue developing additional web-based training resources
and other specialized functions that support the Army's Casualty and
Mortuary Affairs Programs.
The training information is available on the Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center home page at: https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/Active/TAGD/CMAOC/cmaoc.htm. Anyone with an Army Knowledge Online (AKO) account can access these web-based training products. (Source: http://www4.army.mil/news/article.php?story=9812).
5. Pentagon Channel Sheds Light on PTSD:
The Pentagon Channel is taking an in depth look at post traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) in a new edition of its monthly documentary
Recon. The half hour show, called "The Wounds Within," explores how the
understanding of PTSD has evolved from the Civil War to World Wars I
and II to Vietnam and now to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi
Freedom. It also demonstrates how the Department of Defense is treating
service members returning from battle today.
The program notes that in the Civil War PTSD was called "nostalgia."
Following World War I, it was called "shell shock" and following World
War II it was called "combat fatigue." But even with today's
understanding and treatment, "The Wounds Within" shows why many service
members refuse to seek help. The program features wounded service
members who share very personal stories of how they survived, how they
were able to seek treatment, and how they are coping today. Pentagon
Channel producers hope "The Wounds Within" will spark discussion about
PTSD and prompt service members who are suffering in silence to ask for
help. The program, "Recon: The Wounds Within," was first shown on the
Pentagon Channel on November 3, 2006, but will be rerun throughout this
month. Go to http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/ for information and program schedules. (Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2008).
6. More Veterans Day Discounts Available:
The world's two largest home-improvement retailers are offering 10
percent discounts to active-duty personnel, National Guard and Reserve
members, retired military, veterans, and their families in honor of
Veterans Day. Lowe's Companies Inc. the second largest chain, will
offer the discount November 10-12 on in-stock purchases up to $5,000.
To qualify, customers must present a valid military identification or
other proof of service, such as veteran's ID or discharge papers or
Veterans of Foreign Wars card. The company also offered discounts
during the 2006 Memorial Day and July 4th holiday weekends. Excluded
from the discount are online sales, previous sales, special order
items, installation fees, gift cards, Fisher & Paykel appliances,
Dyson vacuums, John Deere products and Krups small appliances. For more
information, go to http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=frameSet&url=lowes.mediaroom.com/ and click on the November 6 media release.
The Home Depot will offer the discount from November 9-12 on
purchases up to $2,000 at Home Depot stores, Home Depot Floor Store
locations, Home Depot Landscape Supply stores, and EXPO Design Center
locations. Customers must go to the Special Services desk in the store
and show proof of military service, such as an ID card. They will
receive a coupon that can be redeemed at any cashier's checkout
register, on a single receipt, in-store purchase only. The company also
has offered discount sale weekends to the military community earlier
this year and in previous years. For more information, go to: http://ir.homedepot.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=217296.
7. Have You Used Military OneSource?
Tell Us How You Like It! Have you used Military OneSource lately? Do
you have access to a similar program through your employer? Do these
programs meet your needs as a military family? Please complete NMFA's
new Military OneSource/EAP survey (www.nmfa.org/onesource) and tell us what you think! The survey will close November 15, so please respond today!
